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Zimbabwean man who controlled the development of Microsoft Windows
10 Jul 2025 at 13:04hrs | Views
Zimbabwean-born Paul Maritz discovered his passion for computers at a South African university and became one of Microsoft's core executives, directing much of the early development of Windows.
Born in 1955 in Zimbabwe, then part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Maritz immigrated to South Africa as a teenager with his family.
Maritz completed his schooling at Highbury Preparatory in Hillcrest near Durban before attending Hilton College.
He then studied at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the University of Natal, where he was first introduced to programming.
In a 1999 interview, Maritz told the New York Times that this introduction was through an experimental course in computer science at the University of Natal, where he was "bitten by the bug."
"I found that programming was an activity that could occupy your whole mind for long periods and give you great satisfaction at the end because you have produced something."
He obtained a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Natal and later an Honours degree in Computer Science from UCT in 1977.
After completing his studies, Maritz moved to the United Kingdom, where he began working as a software developer for Borrough Corporation, an American business equipment manufacturer.
He then completed a stint as a researcher at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland before moving to Silicon Valley at the height of the personal computer boom in 1981.
When he first arrived in the US, Maritz worked for Intel, where he helped develop early tools for the company's relatively new x86 platform as a product manager.
After five years at Intel, Maritz moved to Microsoft in 1986, remaining until 2000.
He was appointed to the company's executive team and eventually became Group Vice President of Platforms and Applications.
This role meant he was responsible for developing Windows 95, Windows NT, Internet Explorer, Exchange, SQL Server, and Development Tools.
His position also involved overseeing Microsoft Office, which included Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
Maritz became highly respected in the world of high technology during his time at Microsoft, regarded as the company's third-ranking executive, behind Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.
Ballmer described Maritz as "a leader among leaders", while Gates said that his vision and technological insight had a significant impact on the entire computer industry.
In a book by Wall Street Journal reporter Gregg Pascal Zachary titled Showstopper, Maritz was described as "calm and sardonic" and "a classic field general" who amazed people with his grasp of technical details.
Maritz left Microsoft in September 2000 after shipping the hit new version of Windows NT, called Windows 2000, in February of that year.
After leaving Microsoft, Maritz went on to start his first venture, called the Pi Corporation, which was an early cloud company based in Seattle.
The company ended up being the first beta tester of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), the foundation of Amazon Web Services, developed by a team of South Africans.
By 2008, the company had accumulated 100 computer engineers located in the US, Canada, and India and was acquired by the EMC corporation.
As part of the acquisition conditions, it was planned that Maritz would join EMC's executive management team as President and General Manager of its newly formed cloud infrastructure and services division.
However, he joined VMware as CEO that year and served until 2012. Under his watch, VMware's revenues tripled.
After leaving VMware, Ballmer's decision to step down as Microsoft CEO in 2013 resulted in Maritz being tipped as a potential replacement. However, the job fell to Satya Nadella.
Maritz instead founded Pivotal Software, a cloud platform hosting and consulting services company.
He stepped down as CEO of Pivotal in 2016 but remained chairman and a board member until 2018. Pivotal was merged into Broadcom in 2023.
Maritz has also been active in non-profits, previously serving on the board of the Grameen Foundation for ten years, as well as several technology startups.
He also has an active interest in supporting education and wildlife conservation in Africa.
In 2021, Maritz was appointed chairman of the board of Acronis, where he still serves despite describing himself as "semi-retired".
Born in 1955 in Zimbabwe, then part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Maritz immigrated to South Africa as a teenager with his family.
Maritz completed his schooling at Highbury Preparatory in Hillcrest near Durban before attending Hilton College.
He then studied at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the University of Natal, where he was first introduced to programming.
In a 1999 interview, Maritz told the New York Times that this introduction was through an experimental course in computer science at the University of Natal, where he was "bitten by the bug."
"I found that programming was an activity that could occupy your whole mind for long periods and give you great satisfaction at the end because you have produced something."
He obtained a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Natal and later an Honours degree in Computer Science from UCT in 1977.
After completing his studies, Maritz moved to the United Kingdom, where he began working as a software developer for Borrough Corporation, an American business equipment manufacturer.
He then completed a stint as a researcher at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland before moving to Silicon Valley at the height of the personal computer boom in 1981.
When he first arrived in the US, Maritz worked for Intel, where he helped develop early tools for the company's relatively new x86 platform as a product manager.
After five years at Intel, Maritz moved to Microsoft in 1986, remaining until 2000.
He was appointed to the company's executive team and eventually became Group Vice President of Platforms and Applications.
This role meant he was responsible for developing Windows 95, Windows NT, Internet Explorer, Exchange, SQL Server, and Development Tools.
His position also involved overseeing Microsoft Office, which included Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
Ballmer described Maritz as "a leader among leaders", while Gates said that his vision and technological insight had a significant impact on the entire computer industry.
In a book by Wall Street Journal reporter Gregg Pascal Zachary titled Showstopper, Maritz was described as "calm and sardonic" and "a classic field general" who amazed people with his grasp of technical details.
Maritz left Microsoft in September 2000 after shipping the hit new version of Windows NT, called Windows 2000, in February of that year.
After leaving Microsoft, Maritz went on to start his first venture, called the Pi Corporation, which was an early cloud company based in Seattle.
The company ended up being the first beta tester of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), the foundation of Amazon Web Services, developed by a team of South Africans.
By 2008, the company had accumulated 100 computer engineers located in the US, Canada, and India and was acquired by the EMC corporation.
As part of the acquisition conditions, it was planned that Maritz would join EMC's executive management team as President and General Manager of its newly formed cloud infrastructure and services division.
However, he joined VMware as CEO that year and served until 2012. Under his watch, VMware's revenues tripled.
After leaving VMware, Ballmer's decision to step down as Microsoft CEO in 2013 resulted in Maritz being tipped as a potential replacement. However, the job fell to Satya Nadella.
Maritz instead founded Pivotal Software, a cloud platform hosting and consulting services company.
He stepped down as CEO of Pivotal in 2016 but remained chairman and a board member until 2018. Pivotal was merged into Broadcom in 2023.
Maritz has also been active in non-profits, previously serving on the board of the Grameen Foundation for ten years, as well as several technology startups.
He also has an active interest in supporting education and wildlife conservation in Africa.
In 2021, Maritz was appointed chairman of the board of Acronis, where he still serves despite describing himself as "semi-retired".
Source - businessdaily.co.zw
